The Lights, The Presents, The Egg Nog, The Food..

THE FAMILY, THE FRIENDS....

They've all been hung, opened, drunk (is that the correct tense??), eaten, kissed & hugged.

A good time was had by all. Even my decision to give all three 'kids' an MP3 player -- don't know why they didn't have one since they have every other electronic gadget known to man. Anywho....call it lack of imagination if you please, but since J so loves the MP3 I gave him last year I thought -- what the hey! I ordered three identical MP3's and figured we'd (I'd) handle it if any of them already had one that I didn't know about. Well, they seemed pleased and I noticed them spending time TOGETHER downloading songs. That's pretty much a first!

So, all in all, we had a good Christmas. We kept smiling when exchanging 'Merry Christmases' with our neighbors who still have family members from New Orleans living with them off and on while traveling back and forth to NOLA to clean up their home. They have been working so hard and now they are wondering if they should continue. So many homes in their neighborhood are still sitting there rotting. So few people seem to be coming back. Their precious little 4 yo boy is safe and loved with family members, yet he wants a home. He wants his home. How blessed those of us who weren't really harmed by the storm are.

And, we kept smiling when exchanging 'Merry Christmases' with our neighbor whose husband is in Afghanistan as she was loading up her own precious little boy to go spend Christmas with family. That little 9 yo had his own big wish for Christmas -- that his dad would be home..and safe.

It's so sad that children are wishing for homes and the safety of their parents. My hopes and prayers are that by next Christmas these children's wish lists will only contain toys.